Senator Scott Discusses Charleston Shootings & the Outpouring of Support Across America
WASHINGTON, DC – Nearly a month after the tragic shootings that claimed nine innocent lives at a church in Charleston, Senator Tim Scott (SC) appeared before a lunch meeting of The Ripon Society yesterday afternoon to discuss the shooting’s impact on his home state and express his thanks for the outpouring of support across America.
“South Carolina has benefited from your thoughts and your prayers over the last 29 days since Mother Emanuel experienced the atrocity that we did,” he stated. “I’ll tell you that it still causes me to pause and think before I speak, because it’s an ongoing public healing process. We are better because the Nation wrapped their arms around South Carolina and gave us the strength to stand when it got difficult. It has been difficult at home. But your prayers and your thoughts have been greatly appreciated, and I will tell you that South Carolina has never been better in many, many ways.
“The challenges that we faced over the last five decades, we were able to solve some of those because of the challenges at Mother Emanuel. The love and forgiveness and this notion of unity became real for us at home. I could not have dreamt of the day when we would be so united, so consistently, throughout the state — not only on issues of politics or the flag, but on the issue of each other. That is a powerful experience and part of the benefit of the last 29 days or so.”
“The truth of the matter is that the greatness of South Carolina was not seen in the voices or in the actions of elected officials. It wasn’t heard in the voices shouting at the statehouse. It was exemplified and seen clearly by the act of forgiveness presented to the world by nine family members who lost their father, or their mother, their brother, or their sister, their daughter, or their son. That act of forgiveness — couched in the power of love — was the most powerful force ever seen, and it rallied the world around Charleston and rallied the world around South Carolina. For that, I’m very excited and very thankful.”
Following his moving remarks about the shootings in his home state, Scott discussed a number of issues being debated on Capitol Hill, including one issue that has been a longstanding priority of his – providing school choice to low-income youth.
“I think it’s incredibly important that we figure out how to help those kids struggling in the wrong zip codes find real opportunity and real hope,” the South Carolina lawmaker stated. “I think it is found in school choice. Look at the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program. It’s probably the best example of what is possible with education in the right hands and with the right apparatus around it. Here in D.C., you spend about $22,000 per kid. That’s the highest in the nation, I believe. And for that $22,000, you produce a graduation rate of around 56 percent. But in the Opportunity Scholarship program, for about $8,500 — or about forty cents on the dollar — you produce a graduation rate of around 91 percent. So, for $22,000, you get a graduation rate of around 56 percent. Or for $8,500, you get a rate of 91 percent. These kids are the same kids going to other schools. To me, the power of choice is the power of opportunity. And it is in fact the power of the American dream.”
To view Senator Scott’s remarks before The Ripon Society’s luncheon discussion yesterday afternoon, please click on the link below:
The Ripon Society is a public policy organization that was founded in 1962 and takes its name from the town where the Republican Party was born in 1854 – Ripon, Wisconsin. One of the main goals of The Ripon Society is to promote the ideas and principles that have made America great and contributed to the GOP’s success. These ideas include keeping our nation secure, keeping taxes low and having a federal government that is smaller, smarter and more accountable to the people.